


comin' under fire

by littleleotas



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Board Games, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, improbable warfare tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-23 02:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11979726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleleotas/pseuds/littleleotas
Summary: Many thanks to bipolyjack for the Tumblr prompt! Written for the Mass Effect Writer Circle.





	comin' under fire

Garrus fixed Thane with an intense gaze over the table. Thane looked at Garrus in return, his face fixed with a pleasant but guarded expression, revealing nothing.

Garrus’s chin rested between two fingers and he frowned in deep thought.

“C5.”

“Miss.”

Garrus leaned back in his chair, sighing and folding his arms. Thane chuckled quietly.

Shepard peeked around the corner, drying her hands with a kitchen towel.

“Playing nicely?”

“I swear he’s cheating,” pouted Garrus.

Shepard walked over to the table and leaned over Thane’s shoulder to look at his board.

“Looks acceptable to me,” she said, the corner of her mouth tugging up in a small smirk.

Garrus narrowed his eyes.

Shepard laughed, walking over and giving Garrus a kiss on the top of his head, then returning to the kitchen.

Thane glanced at his board. “E7″

Garrus sighed. “Hit.”

The fire crackled in the fireplace as Garrus thought. “J...9.”

“Miss.”

“Damnit,” Garrus slammed a hand down on the table as Shepard re-entered the room with a look of bemusement.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“That’s alright,” she said, settling herself in a chair by the fire. She picked up a book from the side table. “I don’t like that game either.”

“Why not?” Thane asked.

“It’s all luck. No skill, no strategy.”

“Ah, of course.”

“D’you know what game I did like, though, was Mastermind.”

“That sounds right,” said Garrus.

Shepard grinned. “There were little coloured pegs, and one person came up with a sequence and the other person had to guess it.”

“Isn’t that just this game?” Garrus gestured to the table.

“No, they’d tell you how many you got right before you tried again. It’s puzzle-solving.”

“Sounds better than this, anyway,” Garrus said, leaning his chin into his palm.

“E8.”

“Hit.” Garrus stared at the board, contemplating his next attempt. The only ship of Thane’s he’d managed to sink was the cruiser in the lower left. He had tried nearly every other region of the board with no further hits, and his confusion was beginning to tinge with anger. This deployment couldn’t make tactical sense.

Wait, he thought.

“A9.”

Thane grinned. “Hit.”

“You bastard,” Garrus said, almost respectfully.

“That was hilarious,” said Shepard, not looking up from her book.

“You shouldn’t have even been there!” Garrus threw his arms in the air in exasperation. “You can’t deploy ships on top of each other like that, it’s not safe.”

“I think you’ll find, dear, that Battleship does not hold to actual rules of warfare,” said Thane, folding his hands and smiling smugly.

Garrus folded his arms, leaning back in his chair and pouting.

Thane stood up and walked over to Garrus, lifting his chin and kissing him. “Does that help?”

“Yes,” Garrus said, trying to maintain his pout.

A timer went off in the kitchen, and Shepard closed her book. “You’re both silly,” she said fondly, kissing each of them on her way into the kitchen.

“Rematch after dinner?” asked Garrus.

“Of course,” Thane replied.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm avelakjar on Tumblr if you want to come say hi!


End file.
